Zetes acquires PEAK Europe

 A significant step in rolling out its growth strategy in the Goods Identification (Goods-ID) market

-        Zetes acquires PEAK Europe from PEAK Technologies, Inc., combining the two largest pure players in the European Goods-ID system integration business.

-        PEAK Europe employs 115 people in the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany, and generated revenues of $ 42 million in 2005.

-        Zetes significantly accelerates its growth in the European Goods-ID market and reinforces its network with added presence in important economic areas (London, Frankfurt, Zurich and Utrecht/Amsterdam).

-        Both companies have a very complementary customer base and solutions set, creating substantial cross-selling opportunities across their whole network.

Zetes (Euronext Brussels: ZTS), a leading pan-European systems integrator in the Automatic Identification (Auto-ID) industry for Goods and People Identification, announces to have reached an agreement with PEAK Technologies, Inc. (Columbia, MD, US) one of the leading systems integrators in the North American and European Goods-ID markets - to acquire PEAK Technologies European division.

This agreement is a major step in the development of Zetes pan-European platform, as it substantially reinforces Zetes presence in the UK, Dutch & German markets, and at the same time gives Zetes an operating base in Switzerland.

The acquisition of the four operating companies of PEAK Europe represents an investment of 7.7 million. This acquisition will be accretive already in 2006.

In 2005, PEAK Europe generated consolidated revenues of $ 42 million ( 33.6 million), of which 50% in the UK market. PEAK Europe is profitable and Zetes is confident that the existing synergies, the continuation of the improvement of Peaks German operation and the application of Zetes business model will double this profitability to Zetes standards within two years.

On PEAK Europe

PEAK Europes organisation consists of operations in 4 countries: Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, where PEAK has a leading position in the Auto-ID system integration business for Goods-ID. PEAKs total staff exceeds 115 employees (FTEs).

Over the last few years, PEAK Europe has been transitioning into higher value-added services. As a result, it is now particularly strong in services such as SAP Enterprise systems integration and in solutions aimed at vertical markets such as Retail, Manufacturing and Transport & Logistics.

PEAK Europe has a strong market position which includes top customers such as: Clarks, Conrad Electronics, Feldschlsschen (Carlsberg), Migros, Selfridges, Airbus, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, DHL, Philip Morris, Virgin Atlantic, to name a few.

Increasing the geographical network for pan-European customers.

Although Zetes already has existing subsidiaries in 3 of the 4 PEAK countries, the locations are highly complementary. In the UK for instance, Zetes is mainly based in the Manchester area whereas PEAK has offices close to London, one of the most important economic regions in Europe, where Zetes still has room for substantial growth.

In Switzerland, where Zetes has historically done business out of Germany, Zetes will immediately be able to leverage on the well developed presence of PEAK Europe, from Zurich.

This geographical complementarity also adds value for Zetes customers who are demanding even more extensive coverage throughout the EU, comments Alain Wirtz, CEO, Zetes Group. Both PEAK Europes and Zetes customers will now be able to rely on an organisation that can offer the most complete pan-European market coverage by a single-source Auto-ID provider and partner, putting more than 550 employees in 11 countries at the service of several thousands of users, in even more countries.

In addition, given the relationship that we have built up with PEAK Technologies, Inc., and with leading market positions in Europe & the US respectively, it will now be much easier for our companies to organise consistent support for trans-Atlantic customers.

Substantial room for solutions cross-selling

Although the base technologies that Zetes & PEAK use are very similar, PEAK
is particularly strong in SAP-connected solutions for Manufacturing environments and in mobile In Store Solutions for Retail. Zetes, on the other hand, is the European market leader for Voice-directed solutions, an area that is still greenfield in PEAK Europes customer base.

Through the mechanism of Zetes international 3i Competence Centres, both companies will be well placed to bring their solutions portfolio to each others customer base.

A major step for Zetes Goods-ID business

The acquisition of PEAK Europe fits perfectly in our ambition to extend our platform throughout Europe, with strong positions in the main countries and an ever increasing solutions portfolio, comments Alain Wirtz.

This acquisition is a major step for our Goods ID business, allowing Zetes sales to grow by more than 35%. Given the potential synergies and cross-fertilization, Zetes is confident that it can improve PEAK Europes profitability from 2007.

An integration team consisting of senior management of the two companies is in place to define and execute the integration over the next few months, so that the operating companies can continue to focus on achieving the budgets for 2006.  While we anticipate the integration team will identify opportunities for cost savings, the motivation for the two companies joining is clearly to continue to expand and grow our business, specifies Alain Wirtz.

About Zetes

Zetes (Euronext Brussels: ZTS), established in 1984, is a leading
Pan-European system integrator offering value-added solutions in the
Automatic Identification industry (Auto-ID) for Goods ID and for People ID.
These solutions use both emerging and mature technologies (barcode, voice
recognition, RFID, smartcards, biometrics) to optimize the business
performance of many private and public customers in many market segments.
Zetes solutions are implemented in various sectors of activity: industry,
transportation, logistics, distribution, healthcare, finance,
telecommunication, government and public services.
The Zetes group has its headquarters in Brussels , with subsidiaries in
Belgium , Germany , France , Ireland , Israel , Italy , the Netherlands ,
Portugal , Spain and the UK . Zetes currently employs 455 employees and
generated consolidated revenues of 139.5 million in 2005.
More info: www.zetes.com

About PEAK Technologies

PEAK Technologies, a Platinum Equity Company, is a systems integrator of
supply chain automation and inventory management solutions delivering
tangible return on investment to some of the worlds largest corporations.
PEAKs primary applications include solutions for warehousing,
manufacturing, and distribution operations.  PEAKs portfolio of solutions
and services include business process consulting, enterprise resource
planning (ERP) systems integration, wireless professional services, project
management, printing/media solutions, and life-cycle support services. PEAK
Technologies has locations throughout North America providing a
comprehensive foot print for national, multi-site life cycle service and
support.